Blue Pixie Dust Cupcakes for Disney's The Pirate Fairy movie!
Author: 
Recipe type: Cupcakes
Serves: 12
 
Experience the magic of the rainbow in these beautiful rainbow Blue Pixie Dust Cupcakes, made especially for the release of the new Disney movie, The Pirate Fairy, out April 1st, 2014.
Ingredients
  • 1 box white cake mix, plus ingredients on back of box
  • 1 small box sugar free/fat free instant vanilla pudding mix
  • 2 sticks butter, room temperature
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 4 cups powdered sugar
  • Wilton Gel Food Colors in Teal, Lemon Yellow, Pink, Violet, Kelly Green
  • ½ package Wilton Candy Melts in Yellow
  • ¼ package Wilton Candy Melts in White
  • 12 regular-sized pretzel sticks
  • Blue Pearl/Luster Dust
  • White Pearl/Luster Dust
  • Blue Sparkling Sugar Sprinkles
  • Small Star Chocolate Mold (found at most craft stores or online baking supply stores -- individual stars within mold are approximately the size of a nickel)
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line one 12-cavity muffin pan with paper liners.; set aside.
  2. Prepare the cake batter according to package directions; stir the dry pudding mix into the batter to combine. Divide the batter evenly among five small bowls; tint each bowl with each food color: violet, pink, lemon yellow, kelly green and teal. I like going easier on the food coloring since the gel tends to be more concentrated and I was looking for more pastel-y colors than bright, intense colors.
  3. Layer the colors a spoonful at a time into each muffin cup. Each muffin cup should be about ¾ full of batter. E.g., a spoonful of purple, then green, then yellow, then teal, then pink. Do not swirl the colors as it will muddle them. Layering them is perfect.
  4. Bake the cupcakes for approx. 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean or with moist crumbs. Cool the cupcakes completely.
  5. While cupcakes cool, prepare your magic wands. Melt the Yellow Candy Melts in a microwaveable bowl until smooth. Pour the melted candy into a piping bag or zip-top baggy, seal out the air and snip off a corner of the baggy. Pipe the candy melts into each star mold until you have 12 stars filled. Gently tap the mold so the candy filled within the mold evenly, and briefly freeze for about 10 minutes so candy hardens. Pop candy out from mold; set aside.
  6. Now, melt the White Candy Melts until smooth; dip each pretzel stick into the white candy coating, shaking any excess off. It is perfectly okay not to coat the entire pretzel stick (where your fingertips hold the pretzel is fine to leave bare since it will adhere to the back of the stars anyway). Set the dipped pretzels onto a foil-lined plate and briefly freeze the pretzels to harden. Remove from freezer.
  7. With the leftover candy melts (of either color) dip the uncoated end of the pretzel stick into the melted candy and gently press to the flat back of a star. Allow the wands to set. Once set and attached together, dust liberally with the Pearl Luster Dust/Disco Dust; set aside.
  8. For the frosting: in the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the butter and vanilla until smooth and creamy. Gradually add the powdered sugar, about one cup at a time, until light and fluffy. Divide the frosting evenly among three small bowls; tint one bowl with the yellow food dye, another bowl with the pink food dye, and the third bowl with the teal food dye. Spoon each dyed frosting alongside each other in a piping bag attached with a large circular tip (I like Atecco 801). Just layer the frosting evenly into the bag as much as you can so it looks kaleidoscopic and so that no one color takes over.
  9. Pipe the frosting high onto the cooled cupcakes; garnish with the blue pearl dust and blue sparkling sugar. Top with a magic wand and serve!
Recipe by The Domestic Rebel at https://thedomesticrebel.com/?p=6450